Dow Jones Business News
Siebel Systems CEO: 'Pretty Optimistic' About 4th Quarter
Thursday September 5, 10:46 am ET
By Marcelo Prince, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Thomas Siebel, chairman and chief executive of Siebel Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:SEBL - News) , said Thursday he is somewhat optimistic about the fourth quarter, as companies have much money left in their technology budgets.
"Right now we are pretty optimistic about what we are seeing in (the fourth quarter)," Siebel said in response to a question from an investor at the Salomon Smith Barney technology conference.
His remarks follow two difficult quarters for the once fast-growing software company and differ from his cautious commentary on Siebel's July earnings teleconference. At that time, the chairman and chief executive said it didn't appear the "rocky" market conditions would improve in the current or fourth quarters, although he did suggest that some seasonal strength could occur in the fourth quarter.
However, the chief executive said in his keynote address that the information technology market "continues soft" and that the weak economy has hamstrung the software industry's growth.
Ken Goldman, Siebel's chief financial officer, said after the keynote that the software company is not changing its previous financial guidance. He also said market conditions haven't improved this summer.
In July, the executives forecast third-quarter earnings excluding a large restructuring charge of 5 cents to 8 cents a share and software license revenue between $135 million and $180 million.
Siebel shares recently traded at $8.13, up 13 cents, or 1.6%, on Nasdaq volume of 7.8 million shares. Average daily volume is 14.8 million shares.
